This list was originally compiled by Firecrafter Matt Baldwin. If you have any other information to add, please contact the web master.

Camps Where Firecrafter Existed at One Time

Camp	Council	Location	Source	Notes	Firecrafter Years
Chank-tun-un-gi	Central Indiana	Indianapolis, IN	History of Firecrafter Patches Recollections of Many	Birthplace of Firecrafter See Note 1	1920-1948
Belzer	Central Indiana	Indianapolis, IN	History of Firecrafter Patches Recollections of Many	Renamed in honor of Firecrafter's founder after his death	1948-1972
Belzer	Crossroads of America	Indianapolis, IN	History of Firecrafter Patches Recollections of Many	See Note 2 Current CAC Cub Day Camp	1972- Still hosts rituals and is an active Fire
Ransburg	Central Indiana	Bloomington, IN	History of Firecrafter Recollections of Many	See Note 2	1966-1972
Ransburg	Crossroads of America	Bloomington, IN	History of Firecrafter Patches Recollections of Many	Current CAC Boy Scout summer camp	1972- Still hosts rituals and is an active Fire
	Kikthawenund	Madison County, IN	Camp brochure belonging to M Terry Hasty		1920s or 1930s
Kikthawenund	Kikthawenund	Anderson, IN	Recollection of M Karl Marsh, Hasty does not recall Firecrafter from the 1950s to the present	See Note 2	-1940s
Kikthawenund	Crossroads of America	Anderson, IN	Recollections of Many	Current CAC Webelos Summer Camp	1972- Still hosts rituals
Bradford	Central Indiana	Martinsville, IN	History of Firecrafter Recollections of Many	See Note 2	1948-1972
Bradford	Crossroads of America	Martinsville, IN	Recollections of Many	A current CAC camp	1972-1980s Last ritual–1984
Redwing	Delaware County	Muncie, IN	History of Firecrafter Patches	See Note 2 and 2a	1940s-1972
Redwing	Crossroads of America	Muncie, IN		A current CAC camp	Still hosts Rituals
Bear Creek	Whitewater Valley	Connersville, IN	History of Firecrafter Dining Hall Decor	See Note 2	See Note 16 Camp was founded in 1946
Bear Creek	Crossroads of America	Connersville, IN	Recollections of Many	See Notes 16 and 17	1972-1980s Still hosts Rituals
Whitewater	Wayne County	Hagerstown, IN	Plaque	See Note 3	c. 1930-1932
Wapa Kamigi	Wayne County	Hagerstown, IN	Plaque	See Note 3	1932-1935
Wapa Kamigi	Whitewater Valley	Hagerstown, IN	Plaque	See Note 3	1935-?
Flat Rock	Central Indiana	Shelbyville, IN	Patches Recollections of Many		c. 1940s-1950s
Rotary	Central Indiana	Crawfordsville, IN	History of Firecrafter Recollections of Many Patches		1943-1951 or 1952 1950s-early 1970s
Cullom	Central Indiana	Frankfort, IN	History of Firecrafter		1948/49-1960s
Port Optimist	Central Indiana	Indianapolis, IN	Recollections of Many		1940s-1960s
Kiwanis	Central Indiana	Indianapolis, IN	Recollections of Many		1940s-1960s
Pohoka	Southern Indiana	Evansville, IN	History of Firecrafter Patches	See Note 4	1935-1955
Pohoka, possibly others	Buffalo Trace	Evansville, IN	History of Firecrafter Recollections of Many	See Note 5	1955-1980s?
Robert Faries	Lincoln Trails	Decatur, IL	History of Firecrafter Patches Recollections of Many	See Note 6	1935-1980s Rekindled in 1997/1998
See Note 7	Okaw Valley?	O'Fallon, IL	See Note 7		c. 1940s-c. 1960s
See Note 8	Okaw Valley	Flora, IL	See Note 8		Late 1950s- Still an active Fire
Cauble	Sekan Area	Independence, KS	Patches	See Note 9	c. 1930s-c. 1940s
Post	South Plains Area	Lubbok, TX	Patches	See Note 10	c. 1930s-c. 1950s
Krietenstein	Wabash Valley	Terre Haute, IN	Recollection of Camp Ranger in 1995	See Note 11	1930s
Falling Rock	Licking County	14 miles north of Newark, OH	Patches
Drake	Arrowhead	Champaign-Urbana, IL	History of Firecrafter		1935-?
Louis Ernst?	Hoosier Hills Area	Southern Indiana	Patches	See Note 12
Shawondassee	Grand Valley	Grand Rapids, MI	Patches	See Note 13
Osceola	See Note 14	Kalamazoo, MI	Patches	See Note 14
Pottawattomi	Pottawattomi	Jones, MI		See Note 15	1940s-?
Rota-Kiwan	Fruitbelt Area		Patch	See Note 15	Late 1930s-?
Tamarack	La Salle		See Note 18	See Note 18	1990-1992
	Sioux		Patch	See Note 19	1940s
Brule			Patch	See Note 20	1940s?

Over twenty different camps from across the nation are named. The History of Firecrafter states that: Firecrafter spread all over the United States through the efforts of professional members of the Central Indiana Council staff who left to serve in other councils. It was especially strong in Indiana and the surrounding states. In Indiana it became active in a dozen council during the late 40s and early 50s, including all of the four councils that are now the Crossroads of America Council. If there actually were Fires in a dozen Indiana councils, the list leaves many unaccounted for.

1. Part of the Indianapolis Council #160 from its openning in 1918-1934, the Indianapolis and Central Indiana Council #160 from 1934-1942, and the Central Indiana Council from 1942-1972.
2. In 1972, the Central Indiana Council (Indianapolis), Kikthawenund Council (Anderson), Delaware County Council (Muncie), and Whitewater Valley Council (Hagerstown) merged to form the Crossroads of America Council.
   1. Three inch round patches featuring a red tepee, red cut edge border, and green pine trees on a white twill background are in the collections of Firecrafters Frank Morrow (Washington State) and Matt Baldwin (Danville, Indiana). The patches appear to be from the 1940s. Both patches have red lettering that says Firecrafter on top and Camp Redwing on the bottom. They are two distinct patches, however, as the patch in Frank's collection has a fire with logs and smoke in front of a teepee while Matt's patch has only a red squiggle in the same place. At the 1998 Grand Ritual, several members of the Mojenikyah Ember (where Camp Redwing is located) were shown the patch and asked about it, but no one had seen it before or knew anything about Firecrafter in the Muncie area before 1972.
3. In July of 1998 there is a wooden plaque on the wall in the office at Camp Bear Creek (in the same building as the health lodge) that was roughly three feet tall by four feet wide:

   A Token
   of Appreciation
   to Our Good Friend
   Ralph R. Teetor
   Camp Whitewater
   Firecrafters

   Circles at the top left and bottom right were Firecrafter emblems, with the red C and fire and yellow teepee made out of wood and attached to a black background. The top right and bottom left circles were similar except that they were Minisino emblems, ant the M was bright orange! The M was similar to those Minisino patches that were made by Aunt Stella (the lady who made the original felt patches at the Central Indiana Council office) because the center of the M came down to the same level as the bottom of the legs of the M. Just to the right of this plaque was an 8½ x 11 sheet of paper in a frame with the following in all capital letters:

   In 1932, as a token of their appreciation to Mr. Ralph Teetor, the Firecrafters of the Wayne County Area of Boy Scouts, constructed and presented this beautiful plaque to Mr. Teetor.

   It is made of white pine and black walnut letters and border. The letters were carefully carved and placed upon the white pine background. In each corner of the plaque is located a carved scout insignia painted in vivid colors of red, yellow, black, and orange. The boys spent one hundred and fifty hours of work on the project.

   In the summer of 1929 Mr. Teetor purchased land south of Hagerstown on which to build a lake and scout camp. By the fall the lake wand camp were completed and was presented by the Wayne County Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

   Camp Whitewater was the name originally given the camp, but was later changed to Wapa Kamigi, the Indian name for Whitewater.

   Scouts from Wayne, Rush, Randolph, and Fayette counties came to Wapa Kamigi for six-day periods. Each boy was to pay $3.50 for his board and lodging.

   (The above info. was taken from the August 1932 issue fo Perfect Circle's Circle magazine.)

   The implications of this are great. First of all, it confirms the existence of a Fire in the Whitewater Valley area. Secondly, it gives us a Minisino patch that no one associated with the current Firecrafter organization has ever seen. Finally, it pushes back the date for the first Fire besides Chank-tun-un-gi at least four years (1931), as the article is dated August of 1932 and it appears from the scope of this project that there must have been at least some Firecrafters in the area during the winter of 1931/32. It is uncertain how long the camp lasted. It appears that the Whitewater Valley Council was formed in 1935, and with the closeness in time period we can assume that Firecrafters probably existed at Wapa Kamigi after the Council was formed. It is also likely that the Fire transferred at some point in time to Camp Bear Creek (see Notes 16 and 17).

4. Buffalo Trace Council #116 (IL) merged with Southern Indiana Council #156 in 1955 to form Bufallo Trace Council #156 (IN).
5. In 1997 CAC Troop 301 went to summer camp at Old Ben Scout Reservation in the current Buffalo Trace Council. They inquired of the Fire, and were told that it has been active at summer camp into the 1980s but had since died out. At the 1999 Indy 500 Festival parade Matt Baldwin talked with a Scouter that had attended Pohoka from 1960-1965, and he stated that Firecrafter was not at the camp at that time.
6. Judging by the number of emails that Matt Baldwin received at the Setting Sun Ember website and the number of patches listed for sale with national patch dealers, the Fire at Camp Robert Faries was the strongest of any Fire outside Central Indiana. The founders of the Decatur Fire were William B. Soules (Scout Executive), Arthur Columber (Field Director), John Hawk (Camp Program Director for 20 years), and Robert Bess (Council President). They were all good friends of Frank Chase, the Central Indiana Scout Executive. All of them are now deceased. In 1935 they received the Fire, and sent representatives to the Grand Ritual at Camp Chank-tu-nun-gi on August 6th of that year. The Fire existed into the early 1980s, and in 1997/98 was rekindled by several Firecrafters in the council. Note that a white M is used on Minisino patches in Southern and Central Illinois.
7. M Elmer Keck is a Hi-Bark and served as Fire Chief at Camp Robert Faries (Lincoln Trails Council) for 1950, 51, and 52. He stated that they started a Fire in O'Fallon, Illinois, near St. Louis. They came to Robert Faries for the Rituals for five years, until they could stand on their own. M John Pratt has told Matt Baldwin of a Fire in the East St. Louis area that was told by their Scout Executive to stop hazing and after they refused, they were banned from wearing their insignia, using council property, and had their funds at the council taken. They then went underground for a number of years. Matt Baldwin speculates that these stories are about one and the same Fire. Matt does not know what camp this occured at or the time period.
8. Firecrafter moved into Southern Illinois from Central Illinois through the efforts of a group of men. George Dickinson, as a youth, was on staff at Camp Robert Faries in Decatur, Illinois. Firecrafter was an active part of camp as it had been brought to that area from its origins in Central Indiana in 1935 (Note 7). In the late 50s, George moved to Flora, IL, and became Scoutmaster there. He brought Firecrafter with him. At first George took Assistant Scoutmasters with him to Decatur to be initiated into the organization. The first one to have this honor was Assistant Scoutmaster, Tom Barbre. Others followed, including scouts and Scouters from the Flora area. In the 60s the organization was then large enough in Southern Illinois that rituals and projects were held in the area, thus the beginning of the Southern Illinois Firecrafters. The group in Southern Illinois has grown to include more than 7 scout troops in the Okaw Valley Council. It is composed of two embers: Rock River Ember and Wacca Lake Ember. Note that a white M is used on Minisino patches in Southern and Central Illinois.
9. In April of 1998, Matt Baldwin received the following email from a Scouter in Kansas. He had only recently learned of the Firecrafter organization's existence at one time in Kansas through a patch that he had purchased, so the information was very interesting indeed:

   My name is Mike Erickson. I am writing because your name was on the web page dealing with the History of the Firecrafter organization. You have no idea how excited I am about some information I found on this site. You have no idea…

   I was very interested in this site because I am the Lodge Advisor to the Historian for Kansa Lodge #198 in south central and southeast Kansas. Our lodge is newly formed from the merger of Hi-Cha-Ko-Lo and Nani-Ba-Zhu. Before the merger, there were only a few of us keenly interested in our history and heritage. The lodges themselves did a poor job of maintaining a historical record. As a few of us gained more information, we would take it to Fall Fellowship, etc., and share it with others—scouts and Scouters alike—and more folks got interested. Finally, with the creation of Kansa 198, the lodge decided it was time to get serious, and created the position called "Historian". I got asked to be advisor because of my strong belief in the importance of our history (and because I was one of the few adults interested in the history that was also very active in the lodge).

   There were a number of unanswered questions and mysteries about the origins of our totems, name, etc. But I think, because of your web-site, one of the biggest may be answered. You see, in 1972, Mi-Ni-Ci-No Lodge #433 was merged into Hi-Cha-Ko-Lo Lodge #198. Much of the history of Mi-Ni-Ci-No Lodge is lost. Most of the old-timers (that I can find, anyway), cannot remember the meaning of Mi-Ni-Ci-No, or why it was chosen as the lodge name. I have hunted through books and more books in libraries, trying to find it's meaning, primarily in books regarding the Sioux and Kansa languages, since those are the local native tribes. But then I found your web page!

   I see on the Extinct Fires page that there was once a Firecrafter organization in Sekan Area Council, at Camp Cauble, in Kansas. Sekan Area Council was headquartered in Independence, Kansas, and its OA lodge (when chartered) was called Mi-Ni-Ci-No. (You may know all this, but bear with me, please). From what I know, Camp Cauble was in existence from at least '36 to '39, but anything more is not for certain. Mi-Ni-Ci-No Lodge was started in the late '40s (I don't have the date in front of me). I'm surmising that when they finally decided to start an OA lodge, they selected as its name the highest honor in the Firecrafter program. The spelling is different, and I don't know about the years when Firecrafter officially ended in Sekan, but it's too close to be coincidence. And I see the meaning of Minisino: Tried and Proven - in the Miami language.

   This is, to me, a great find. I am incredibly excited. Unbelievable…

   What little research Matt Baldwin had done on the subject agrees with everything that Mike wrote. A national patch dealer tells Matt Baldwin that the lodge produced an F1, F2, J1, S1, N1, and N2. The solid flap is more scarce than the twill flaps. The Blue Book (the current authority on the history of OA lodge insignia), says that a rattlesnake was their lodge totem. This is the only instance we know of where a Fire evolved into an Order of the Arrow lodge. In July of 1998 I found a used F1 for sale for $45 and a mint S1 for $165.

   Matt Baldwin has in his collection a cut edge three inch Firecrafter patch with a red border and no lettering that the dealer he bought it from claimed was from Camp Cauble. Mike Stalcup has a red bordered Woodsman patch that says Woodsman on the top and Cauble on the bottom.

10. All of the basic Firecrafter ranks—Camper, Woodsman, and Firecrafter—have been found in the form of three-inch "Camp Post" Fire patches. Others have seen a patch from Camp Post that is the same as a Firecrafter patch, but with a green pine tree in place of the teepee and the designation Trapper. Matt Baldwin owns one of these patches. It is the only instance we know of where a new rank was created outside of the Central Indiana and Crossroads of America Councils. Note that the white M used on Minisino patches in Southern and Central Illinois and the orange M from eastern Indiana is just different insignia than is used in Indiana for the same rank (Minisino). I e-mailed several Scouters in the South Plains Area Council for help in dating and verifying the patch, and was told that they knew it was a camp rank, and it was not for the first year camper but later on. How much later they could not say. Perhaps most interesting is that they claimed a version was also made out of felt.
11. In 1995, Troop 301 went to Krietenstein for summer camp. Three others and Matt Baldwin were Firecrafter candidates that year, and they invited the entire camp to their campfire programs. An old camp ranger recalled when he got his Firecrafter back in the 1930s at Krietenstein. He said that it had only been around there for a few years and was voted out of the council the year after he went through. Matt vividly recalls this because they even talked about going to the CAC office and paying the ten bucks for him to join the alumni association. He will try to get a signed statement from his summer camp scoutmaster from that year to back all of this up for historical records. Unfortunately, very few candidates probably went through in the Wabash Valley Council in that short time and he doubts there were any patches made that would have the camp or council name on them (as this was the felt era). This existence of a Fire will therefore be very hard to verify.
12. In 1995, a three-inch Firecrafter patch with Hoosier Hills lettering was sold at the CAC auction. A similar camper patch is in the collection of M Mike Stalcup.
13. M Mike Stalcup has a three-inch patch that is similar in every way to a Firecrafter patch, except that it is a red O instead of a C. The lettering says Camp Shawondassee. It seems most likely that this is from the Camp Shawondossee that was in Grand Rapids, based on location and the possible existence of a Fire in Kalamazoo, MI. It might be from the Camp Shawondassee in the Red River Council of North Dakota. That camp closed in 1947. Another possibility is the Camp Shawondassee that was operated by the Richmond Area Council of Virginia until 1942, the Robert E. Lee-Virginia Council from 1942-1953, and the Robert E. Lee Council from 1953 until the present.
14. M Mike Stalcup has a three inch round patch on blue twill with a rolled edge. There is a large yellow arrowhead in the middle, and around the edge of the patch is yellow lettering: Camp Osceola on top and BSA on the bottom. There is a red fire with three flames on the arrowhead, with blue and red smoke rising from the fire. A red circle surrounds all but the bottom of the arrowhead. Here’s the kicker: the fire is burning on top of the Firecrafter fraternity letters – three X's. Camp Osceola existed in the Kansas City Area Council (Missouri) from 1930-1962. It was renamed the H. Roe Bartle Reservation in 1962. Bartle was a friend of F. O. Belzer, the Central Indiana Council executive and founder of Firecrafter. A man named Don Baldwin was a Scouter from Central Indiana who went to K. C. in the late 20s or early 30s and used the Firecrafter patch as the model for the Osceola patch. Firecrafter, however, was never at the camp (but Mic-O-Say was!). The current Bartle reservation patch is similar in design but different in color from this patch.
15. This information was found on the Honor Societies page on the Internet (http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/9426/societies.html) in July of 1998. The webmaster is Dave Eby, P. O. Box 1912, Monroe, MI 48161. His email address is dleby@geocities.com. Matt Baldwin wrote him for further verification, and below is an excerpt from his reply:

    I am glad you like the pages. It is gratifying to know that people are reading and using them. The Kalamazoo info was provided by Paul Myers in Goshen, Indiana. I consider Paul to be a national scouting historian. He researches things and has written a number of books and dozens of historical articles that have been published through the years.

    He goes on to state that Mr. Myers has three large Firecrafter felts from Camp Rota-Kiwan in the Fruitbelt Area Council (Kalamazoo, MI) that are from the late 1930s and that Mr. Myers has record of Firecrafter at Camp Pottawattomi in the Pottawattomi Council in Michigan City, Indiana. Camp Pottawattomi appears to have operated in the 1940s until about 1950, while Rota-Kiwan operated under various council names from 1921 until 1973. Matt has yet to contact Mr. Myers and further verify this information. M Mike Stalcup owns a three-inch orange felt patch with the Firecrafter emblem silkscreened in black that has been identified by old timers in Northern Indiana as being from the Camp Pottawattomi Fire that they remember. Firecrafter Frank Morrow also owns one of these patches.

16. In July of 1998 there was a painted wooden board in the dining hall at Camp Bear Creek that featured the twelve points of the Scout Law and the Camper, Woodsman, Firecrafter, and Minisino rank emblems. In the scroll at the bottom was a name, Minisino Project and 1958. It would seem logical that Firecrafter existed in the Whitewater Valley Council from at least the early 1930s (See Note 3) until at least 1958. It is possible that Firecrafter continued until the 1972 merger that formed the Crossroads of America council, but it was not very strong if this was the case due to the presence of OA Wahpanachi Lodge #308.
17. Bear Creek is a current CAC camp, and on the porch outside the dining hall is a mural featuring many Scouting items (tent, campfire, OA sash, woodbadge beads) and a Firecrafter emblem. Inside the dining hall is a painted board featuring an Eagle medal and the ranks of Webelos Camper, Camper, Woodsman, Firecrafter, and Minisino on a fleur-de-lis. The inscription states that it is from the Council Committee from the late 1970s.
18. The following is from Nick Stillings, the 1990 Chief of the Fire. In 1990 one of the adult staffers up there (at Camp Tamarack in Jones, Michigan), a Firecrafter himself, approached the Council Committee about staying a Fire at Tamarack. I was council chief at the time, and we granted them a one-year charter, provided that all the candidates came down to Belzer that year for the ritual. They had 3 or 4 go through, and another 2 or 3 the next year, but we had concerns about the quality of the program and the feasibility of them pulling off Firecrafter successfully without the infrastructure of a council-wide organization, and in 1992 asked them to participate in the CAC program in lieu of their own. Russ Chorpenning, Alumni Association Treasurer, states that he believes that patches made in the current style with Camper or Woodsman on top and just BSA on the bottom probably came from this camp. Matt Baldwin has one of each of these patches in his personal collection.
19. Firecrafter Frank Morrow has a 1940s style 3" Firecrafter rank patch in his collection that says Sioux Council on top and Camps on the bottom. He traded for it at the 1950 National Jamboree.
20. Matt Baldwin has a three-inch round patch in his collection that is a Firecrafter patch from Camp Brule, but with a red O instead of a teepee. It might have just been a camp patch.